


Chocolate Fondue

by for_the_love_of_wolves



Series: Bucket List [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Bucket List, Chocolate, Chocolate Fondue, F/M, Fluff, Perthshire Cottage, Post Season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:40:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22308076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_the_love_of_wolves/pseuds/for_the_love_of_wolves
Summary: Jemma and Fitz move into the cottage of their dreams in Perthshire. While unpacking boxes, they find Jemma's old diary and discover a bucket list in it. They decide to do the things on it now and together. The first point they tick off is: Chocolate Fondue.
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Series: Bucket List [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1605703
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23





	Chocolate Fondue

The cottage in Perthshire is a postcard-worthy sight. It’s everything they wanted it to be. It's everything Jemma told Fitz about in a dreamy voice, when they were laying in their narrow bed on the Zephyr, clinging to each other, trying to fade out the whirring noises of the engines that constantly tried to remind them that they were still floating in space, still searching for a way to get the team back, still on the run from their enemies.

It was just a vague image in their minds back then. Now, it’s very real.

A narrow beaten path leads them to a wooden fence. The gate creaks when they open it and walk towards the cottage which crouches low in the embankment between two tall trees, one with red and one with orange leaves. The house is made of unevenly sized grey and red bricks, overgrown by ivy and moss at some places. The slate roof is darker and there is a crooked chimney at the side.

There even is a little messy garden and Jemma cheers when she discovers wild strawberry plants in it. Fitz watches her crouching down to inspect the plants closer and his heart warms at the sight of her rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes and gentle fingers running over green leaves. Not far away from the fence surrounding the cottage and garden is a little pond. Colorful leaves are floating on the ruffled surface. In the distance, Fitz sees the green hills rising up. This is home, he thinks with a sudden surprising jolt of happiness. He hasn’t felt like this in quite a long while. They are home. It’s not perfect but they can make it something wonderful.

At second glance, it’s clear there’s going to be some work to do. Fitz makes a mental list automatically. The rooftop looks like it’s missing a few tiles. Paint is falling off the door. And the little shed behind the cottage looks half-collapsed, the wood dark and fragile. His mood isn’t dimmed by these trifles. Quite the contrary. He feels better knowing there’s going to be work for him. Work is a solid and calming counterweight to the ever-present dark depths of his mind. He never knows which demons will come out next to torture him, but he always knows his work.

After exploring everything outside the cottage, Jemma eventually pulls him inside, where it smells of wood and cold grime. The floor creaks softly under their steps. The furnishing is sparse. A circular table, two wooden chairs and a stove in the living room. The wind creates a quiet hollow sound as it blows through the chimney.

Jemma walks around, her eyes sparkling. Fitz knows she’s already seeing where everything’s supposed to be. He follows her a bit hesitantly, sensing it will take a lot of time for him to get used to all these new smells and noises. They have spent ages on board of the Zephyr, where he knows every bolt and every whirring sound. Where the space is limited and he knows the number of steps leading from his bed to the door of the bunk.

When Jemma turns to look at him and asks, “What do you think?”, Fitz swallows and scratches the back of his head. “Uhm. It’s … big," he says carefully.

Jemma chuckles. “It is. Yes. But … Do you like it?” She bites her lip and suddenly looks so nervous, so worried, that Fitz has to go to her and hug her. “Yes,” he says, inhaling her familiar scent. “I like it.” Jemma makes a soft noise into the crook of his neck. It sounds relieved and happy at the same time. “I’m glad,” she says quietly. “I like it too. I love it. I think … I think we can make this really great. Warm and cozy."

“We will,” Fitz nods and places a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

They stay close for a while, their hands roaming over each other’s backs restlessly, feeling each other’s solid presence. Eventually, Jemma sniffles and says, “It’s a bit chilly in here, isn’t it? But well, it’s autumn. I bet it’s going to be heavenly warm once we light a fire.”

“Hmmm.” Fitz likes the thought of sitting on the couch in a cuddle heap while the fire’s cackling and spreading a pleasant warmth. But until they can do this, there’s going to be a lot of work first …

* * *

  
When they move out in earnest, the boxes are soon piling up in the living room.

Jemma looks at the heaps of boxes and crosses her arms. “I didn’t think we have so many things,” she says in wonder.

Fitz hums. He feels a bit overwhelmed. So far, he has never had a lot of space to furnish. But he knows he can count on Jemma’s talent for organization. So he isn’t surprised but rather relieved, when she pulls out a long to-do list and starts to tell him what to do.

They talk a lot while unboxing cartons and laugh about things they pull out they don’t even remember. Like a pillow with a monkey on it or a hair roller. Eventually, Fitz finds a carton containing a lot of Jemma’s children’s books. He smiles when he pulls out Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and Watership Down. But suddenly, he has something different in his hand. A thin notebook with flowers on the cover. He frowns and opens it curiously. On the first page, he reads “Jemma’s diary”, written in neat careful letters that are slightly crooked. Jemma’s handwriting, he knows. 

“I didn’t know you had a diary,” Fitz says, looking at Jemma who is occupied with carefully piling up plates and bowls on the floor beside her.

“What?” She asks absently, turning to look at him.

Fitz raises the diary.

Jemma frowns and scrunches up her nose. “Oh! This … I completely forgot about it.”

“Did you write a lot in it?” Fitz asks curiously.

Jemma shakes her head. “Not really.” She takes the notebook from him, opening it and turning the pages. Fitz looks over her shoulder, supporting his chin on the crook of her neck. They see some half-hearted attempts at describing a day or two, some sketches of animals and their insides, which Jemma chuckles at and Fitz says, “God, you already wanted to dissect animals back then? And I thought I was strange,” for which he receives a gentle love tap.

“Wait,” he says, when Jemma opens a certain page, “Is this a bucket list?”

Jemma’s lips twitch and she runs a finger over the paper. “Yes. I watched a movie about someone doing everything on their bucket list and I wanted to have one too. It’s a bit silly, isn’t it.” She blushes a slight rose red.

“No. It’s not silly at all. These things sound amazing,” Fitz says, reading through the list. “I’d want to do these things too. Well. Apart from the bungee jumping. Or the wild water rafting.” He shudders.

Jemma chuckles and she turns her head to kiss his cheek fondly. “I know.”

The list contains a few more sport things Fitz finds stupid and dangerous – why should risking your life be fun?! – especially, when water is involved, but there are also a lot of different things which he never did or think about, but are actually great. Things that make him feel a bit sad because he suddenly realizes how little they actually did as a couple. Not many fun things at least, that’s for sure.

Like “Go Snorkeling” (which Jemma wanted to do on the Seychelles, he remembers with a hint of pain), “See the Northern Lights”, “Visit Disney Land” (He always wanted to go there as a child. But when his father was there he said it was for little girls and when he was gone, they didn’t have the money), “Visit Romania and see Dracula’s castle”, “First kiss” (Well, that they did, fortunately), “Rescue ~~an animal~~ a lot of animals” or “Watch a meteor shower”. These are just a few things he spies, because the list clearly goes on for a few pages.

“Well,” Jemma suddenly says and closes the book. “We rather go on with unpacking.”

Her eyes are a bit distant and Fitz feels like she’s lost in thoughts. Does she still dream of doing these things? He would love to do them with her … It would mean spending a lot of time together. Just the two of them, exploring the world and everything it contains without having to fear someone hunting them or someone trying to destroy the world. It would mean … being normal. Being a normal couple in love having fun. Money won’t really be a problem. For some reason, they have a ridiculous amount on their bank account now. Either Coulson has been saving for a long time, or Shield had sponsors even after it disappeared from the world’s eyes.

Fitz’s heartbeat speeds up with excitement when he realizes that yes, they really could do this. They could fulfil Jemma’s bucket list.

“Jemma,” He says, reaching out to lay a hand on her shoulder before she can turn around to her half-unpacked box again.

She looks at him questioningly.

“We could do these things. The things on your list. We could do them now,” he tells her. Her eyes widen. “Are you serious?” She breathes.

“Yeah. I mean … The last years, we were always working. We were always saving people. The whole world. We lost so much time.” And almost each other, he adds silently. “This could be our chance to get the time back. I would love to do all these things with you. Well. Almost all things,” he adds quickly. “I don’t want to bungee jump, please don’t make me.”

Jemma laughs. Her eyes are a bit wet. She reaches for him, pulling him in for a hug. “I would never make you do something you don’t want to.”

“Same,” he tells her, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against hers. “So, are we going to do this?”

“I don’t think we can manage to do all the things on the list, I think it’s ten pages long, but yes. We can do this,” Jemma says, her voice shaking with excitement. “Oh Fitz. The idea of going to all these places with you … It makes me so happy.” She laughs, looking around the room. “And we haven’t even finished moving in yet.”

“We don’t have to start with the big things right now,” Fitz tells her. “We can pick something we can do here first.”

“Oh. Yes, that makes sense,” Jemma murmurs, opening her old diary again and skipping to the list. “And … Oh! We can do it like this: I pick something, then you. We can take turns.”

Fitz smiles. “I would like that.” And since they know each other so well, he knows he can trust Jemma completely. She wouldn’t pick something that makes him freak out. And he wouldn’t do that too.

Jemma reads the list for a while, until her eyes light up. “Here. Have chocolate fondue. That sounds like fun. And we can do it here.”

Chocolate fondue. They never had chocolate fondue?! Fitz feels sad and very happy at the same time. His stomach likes the idea. A lot. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

In the evening, they sit on their couch, wrapped in a fuzzy blanket and leaning against each other, while they watch the flames dancing in the fireplace and the chocolate melting over the candle on the table. While Fitz repaired the most important things, Jemma went into the village to grab a chocolate fondue set and a lot of fruits.

“This is the best thing ever,” Fitz says, putting a strawberry on a little spit of wood and dipping it into the chocolate. He sighs at the double sweetness exploding on his tongue when he bites into the strawberry and leans back while chewing, closing his eyes.

Jemma laughs. “I thought you would say that.” She does the same with a grape, laying her head on his shoulder.

They take turns to dip their fruits into the chocolate, until it’s almost gone and they feed each other with the remaining strawberries and grapes. Jemma chuckles when she looks at Fitz. “You have a bit of chocolate on your cheek,” she tells him softly. Before Fitz can reach for a napkin, she leans over to him, kissing the chocolate from his cheek and licking her lips after.

Fitz looks at her breathlessly. The fire dances in her honey-coloured eyes. “What’s next?” He asks, his voice a bit hoarse.

Jemma smiles. “On the list?” She asks, and he can hear the teasing in her voice.

His lips twitch. “Well. Yes. But … before.”

“Oh. Hmmm. Bed?”

As soon as the word is out, Fitz already scrambles to get off the couch. “Good idea, Jems.”

Jemma chuckles and takes her time to follow him. This was a great idea. She didn’t think she would ever take another look at the bucket list. But now they are using it to get closer together again, after all the heartbreak and sadness and sorrow, their life was filled with, they really deserve to make some happy memories, she decides.

They could even add some points to the bucket list, she thinks absently while going after Fitz. Nice things. Exciting things. Arousing things.

Everything, as long as they can do it together.

**Author's Note:**

> This is another project. I want to do a chapter for each point on Jemma's bucket list :)
> 
> If you have any ideas, what could be on their bucket list, write them in the comments or send them to me on tumblr. That would be awesome! 
> 
> I think I might create the list somewhere, maybe in a google doc or something. I'll keep you updated!


End file.
